A solar cell that is readily manufactured using processing techniques which are less expensive than microelectronic circuit processing. In preferred embodiments, printing techniques are utilized in selectively forming masks for use in etching of silicon oxide and diffusing dopants and in forming metal contacts to diffused regions. In a preferred embodiment, p-doped regions and n-doped regions are alternately formed in a surface of the wafer through use of masking and etching techniques. metal contacts are made to the p-regions and n-regions by first forming a seed layer stack that comprises a first layer such as aluminum that contacts silicon and functions as an infrared reflector, second layer such titanium tungsten that acts as diffusion barrier, and a third layer functions as a plating base. A thick conductive layer such as copper is then plated over the seed layer, and the seed layer between plated lines is removed. A front surface of the wafer is preferably textured by etching or mechanical abrasion with an IR reflection layer provided over the textured surface. A field layer can be provided in the textured surface with the combined effect being a very low surface recombination velocity.
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7. A solar cell comprising:
a silicon substrate having a textured front surface and a back surface;
a plurality of doped regions;
an oxide layer formed over the back surface of the silicon substrate; and
a plurality of metal contacts formed through the oxide layer to make electrical connections to corresponding doped regions in the plurality of doped regions, each of the metal contacts comprising an infrared reflecting layer configured to reflect infrared back into the silicon substrate, the infrared reflecting layer comprising aluminum, wherein each of the metal contacts further comprises a diffusion barrier layer formed over the infrared reflecting layer and a seed layer formed over the barrier layer.
an oxide layer formed over the back surface of the silicon substrate;
a first plurality of metal contacts each being electrically coupled to a first doped region of the solar cell and formed through the oxide layer; and
a second plurality of metal contacts each being electrically coupled to a second doped region of the solar cell and formed through the oxide layer, the first and second doped regions being of opposite polarity;
wherein each of the first and second plurality of metal contacts comprises an infrared reflecting layer comprising aluminum configured to reflect infrared back into the silicon substrate, and wherein each of the first and second plurality of metal contacts further comprises a diffusion barrier layer formed over the infrared reflecting layer and a first metal formed over the diffusion barrier layer.
3. The solar cell of
5. The solar cell of
6. The solar cell of
8. The solar cell of
an antireflection coating formed over the textured front surface.
10. The solar cell of
11. The solar cell of
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This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/412,638, filed on Apr. 10, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,339,110 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirey.
This invention relates generally to solar cells, and more particularly the invention relates to a solar cell structure which is efficient in operation and economical to manufacture.
The use of photovoltaic cells for the direct conversion of solar radiation into electrical energy is well known, see Swanson, U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,352 for example. Briefly, the photovoltaic cell comprises a substrate of semiconductive material having a p-n junction defined therein. In the planar silicon cell the p-n junction is formed near a surface of the substrate which receives impinging radiation. Radiated photons create mobile carriers (holes and electrons) and the substrate which can be directed to an electrical circuit outside of the cell. Only photons having at least a minimum energy level (e.g., 1.1 electron volt for silicon) can generate an electron-hole pair in the semiconductor pair. Photons having less energy are either not absorbed or are absorbed as heat, and the excess energy of photons having more than 1.1 electron volt energy (e.g. photons have a wavelength of 1.1 μm and less) create heat. These and other losses limit the efficiency of silicon photovoltaic cells in directly converting solar energy to electricity to less than 30%.
Solar cells with interdigitated contacts of opposite polarity on the back surface of the cell are known and have numerous advantages over conventional solar cells with front side metal grids and blanket or grid metallized backside contacts, including improved photo-generation due to elimination of front grid shading, much reduced grid series resistance, and improved “blue” photo-response since heavy front surface doping is not required to minimize front contact resistance because there are no front contacts. In addition to the performance advantages, the back-contact cell structure allows simplified module assembly due to coplanar contacts. See Swanson U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,770 for example.
While interdigitated back-contact (IBC) solar cells have been fabricated, cost considerations have prevented the IBC solar cell from being commercialized. Heretofore, conventional microelectronics (integrated circuit) processing has been employed in fabricating IBC solar cells, including the use of backside diffusions, contacts, and metal lines fabricated by conventional microelectronics photolithography, thin film metallization, and etching processes. This fabrication process is capable of producing high efficiency solar cells, but the process is not cost effective for application in conventional low-cost, flat-plate solar panels. The key problem with practical realization of an IBC solar cell by this process is the high cost of fabrication, including the use of photoresist materials, processing and mask alignment, and the use of thick metal conductor deposition by vacuum evaporation or sputtering. Further, the processing must be carried out in a clean room environment. Thus IBC solar cells fabricated using these methods have been restricted to application in high concentration solar cells or in very high value one-sun applications.
In accordance with the invention, a solar cell structure is provided which can be readily manufactured using alternative processing techniques which are less expensive than microelectronic circuit processing.
In one preferred embodiment, a silicon cell having a first major surface for receiving solar radiation has an opposing or backside surface in which p-doped and n-doped regions are formed in a spaced parallel arrangement. The p and n regions can be in offset planes or in the same plane. Interdigitated metal contacts respectively contact the p and n doped regions.
More particularly, the doped regions can be formed by first applying one dopant type to the entire back side of the cell by high temperature diffusion. Next, a patterned etch resist is applied to the cell by a low cost printing technology. This is followed by selective etching of a thermal oxide and doped region, and then by high temperature diffusion of the other dopant and thermal growth of a silicon oxide layer.
In forming the interdigitated metal contacts to the p and n regions, arrays of small contact openings are fabricated in the silicon oxide layer by using a patterned etch resist and chemical etching. A seed layer metal stack is then sputtered on the back side of the cell. The first metal in the stack provides ohmic contact to the silicon through the contact openings in the oxide and acts as an infrared reflector. A second metal layer acts as a diffusion barrier and adhesion layer. A top metal layer then forms a base to initiate plating. A plating resist is then applied over the seed layer, and metal is plated to the cell to build up thickness for the metal grid lines. Finally, the plating resist is stripped, and the metal seed layer between the grid lines is removed by chemical etching.
The first surface of the cell is preferably textured, as is conventional in solar cells. The texturing is preferably accomplished chemically. An antireflection nitride layer is then applied over the textured surface to assist in the coupling of light energy into the solar cell and hence improve efficiency.
The invention and objects and features thereof will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description and appended claims when taken with the drawings.
A solar cell in accordance with the invention is preferably manufactured in a single crystalline silicon substrate having a (100) crystalline orientation or in a multi-crystalline silicon substrate with minority carrier lifetime greater than 200 microseconds.
Next, as shown in
Alternatively, the polarity of the diffusions can be reversed, with n+ diffusion as the first step instead of a p+ diffusion. Further, solid or gaseous dopant sources can be used as diffusion sources. The boron dopant can be diffused on one side of the wafer only by back-to-back loading of wafers into the diffusion boats.
Next as shown in
As shown in
The wafers are then diffused on both sides in a high temperature diffusion furnace to form n+ layer 18 on the back side and n+ layer 20 on the top surface as shown in
Other n+ dopants such as As or Sb can be employed. Alternatively, a boron or phosphorous silicate glass layer, of opposite polarity from the dopant applied in step 2, can be applied to the back side of the side using atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) to act as a dopant source. The dopant is diffused into the silicon in a high temperature diffusion furnace. If an APCVD dopant source is used as in
Next as shown in
As shown in
For wafers that are not (100) oriented single crystal, texture can also be created by a number of alternative methods, including acid etching, plasma etching, and mechanical abrasion. Following the texturing, the wafers are cleaned using a standard pre-diffusion wet cleansing sequence.
Next, as shown in
Alternatively, solid or gaseous dopant sources can be used as diffusion sources. Further, the wafers can be diffused on the front side on a by back-to-back loading of wafers in the diffusion boats.
Other n+ dopants such as As or Sb can be used. Alternatively, a p-type dopant, such as boron, can be used to create a floating junction, which provides good passivation of the silicon-silicon dioxide interface. Further, a boron or phosphorous silicate glass layer can be used as a dopant source. In the preferred embodiment, the junction depth is 0.38±0.1 μm and the resultant sheet resistivity is 115±15 ohms/square. The thickness of the thermal oxide layer 30 is 350±100 Å.
Alternatively, this step can be eliminated, altogether or by using another technique, such as a fixed change in a SiN ARC, to create good surface passivation, or by moving the texture etch before the doping mask and using a single n+ diffusion and oxidation to diffuse both sides of the wafer.
As shown in
In
Alternatively, the contact mask and contact oxide etch can be eliminated from the process and contact openings can be formed in the oxide layer by other methods, such as laser ablation of oxide, or direct printing of chemical pastes that etch the oxide. Laser ablation and printed chemical paste can be used in the steps of
In
A second layer, titanium-10%/tungsten-90% (TiW) in the preferred embodiment acts as a diffusion barrier to metals and other impurities. A third layer, copper (Cu) in the preferred embodiment, is used to provide a base for initiating electroplating of metal. Because the seed layer is not required to have significant current-carrying capacity, it can be made very thin. Hence, the manufacturing cost of depositing the seed layer is low. In the preferred embodiment, the metal layer comprises a Al(Si)/TiW/Cu stack, where the aluminum provides ohmic contact and back surface reflectance, TiW acts as the barrier layer, and Cu acts as the plating base. Alternatively, chromium (Cr) can be used as the barrier layer instead of TiW. The metal semiconductor contact can be annealed in a forming gas atmosphere, preferably at 400° C. Alternatively, the contact anneal step can be eliminated.
Next, as shown in
In
Finally, as shown in
Alternatively, in
The final structure is shown in perspective view in
A solar cell fabricated in accordance with the invention is economical to manufacture through use of printing technology. The stacked metal contacts provide good ohmic connection and reflection properties on the back side of the cell, and the textured surface on the front side provides greater capture of photons and increased operating efficiency for the cell. A number of alternative processing steps and structural elements have been suggested for the preferred embodiment. Thus while the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments, the description is illustrative of the invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention. Various modifications and applications may occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Smith, David, Swanson, Richard M., Pass, Thomas, Cudzinovic, Michael J., Mulligan, William P., Kaminar, Neil, McIntosh, Keith
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